1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a lever fitting-type connector in which a lever-returning spring member and a connector-fitting lever can be easily mounted on a connector housing, relates to a construction and a method for easily mounting a lever-returning spring on a lever fitting-type connector, and relates to a lever fitting-type connector in which a restoring ability of a spring-biased, connector-fitting lever is enhanced, and the increase of the size of the connector due to the use of a spring member is prevented.
2. Related Art
One conventional lever fitting-type connector is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,785.
In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference characters A and B denote a female connector and a male connector, respectively. The female connector A contains pin-like male terminals C and U-shaped short-circuit terminals C', and the male connector B contains female terminals (not shown). The female connector A is attached to an electronic unit (not shown) to be mounted on a vehicle, and the proximal ends of the pin-like terminals C are soldered to a circuit of a printed circuit board 1.
The male connector B is a multi-pole connector having many terminal receiving chambers 3 arranged in upper and lower rows. Its insulative housing 4 is divided by slits 5 into three sections B1, B2 and B3, and the female terminal is received in each receiving chamber 3, and is retained there by a known means.
Pins 6 are projectingly formed respectively on the opposite sides of the housing 4 of the male connector B, and provisional retaining projections 7 are formed on its upper surface at opposite side portions thereof, and an elastic lock arm 8 is provided on the central portion of the upper surface. As shown in FIG. 1, the elastic lock arm 8 has a lock portion 9 having a tapered engaging surface. A cover 10 is attached to the electric wire lead-out side of the male connector B, and is locked thereto by lock means 11a and 11b.
The female connector A has at its front side a hood 12 for receiving the male connector B, and the hood 12 is divided by partition walls 13 into three chambers 12.sub.1, 12.sub.2 and 12.sub.3 in corresponding relation to the male connector B. As shown in FIG. 2, the U-shaped short-circuit terminals C' are provided to be extended from an outer wall 12a of the chamber 12.sub.3 into the interior of this chamber.
A lever member F is pivotally mounted on the hood 12, and comprises a pair of cam levers 19 for effecting the fitting and disengagement relative to the male connector B, and an operating plate 20 interconnecting the two levers 19.
Namely, the hood 12 has at its opposite (right and left) sides lever-mounting chambers 14 each having double (inner and outer) walls, and each cam lever 19 is pivotally mounted on a pin-like shaft 16 fixedly mounted in a shaft hole 15 in the chamber 14. A groove 17 is formed in the inner wall of each of the mounting chambers 14, and the pin 6 of the male connector B is moved into and out of the groove 17. The hood 12 has retaining grooves for the provisional retaining projections 7 of the male connector B.
Each cam lever 19 has at its front end an eccentric cam groove 21 for engagement with the pin 6 of the male connector B, and a coil spring (resilient member) is interposed between the operating plate 20 and a central recess 12b in the upper wall of the hood 12, so that the operating plate 20 and the cam levers 19 are urged upward to be upstanding relative to the upper surface of the hood 12 in a normal condition.
In the above construction, however, the coil spring can not be handled easily during the assembling of the connector, and the assembling efficiency has been quite poor.